There was plenty for Wall Street to panic about. As the vast numbers of Iranian Exocet and C 801/802 missiles became increasingly obvious, the numbed Zionist Cabal finally started to see the vague outline of the massive trap that had been sprung. Every minute of every day, Iranian AWACS aircraft record the precise movements and updated positions of every American vessel in the Persian Gulf. In turn, this precision data is fed to a string of fighter bases positioned north to south in western Iran, where local operations continually program new target coordinates into an array of sea-skimming missile guidance systems.
Try not to be misled by "sophisticated American defensive systems', because no such systems exist that are even remotely capable of countering a massed attack by sea-skimming Exocet and C 801/802 missiles. The Persian Gulf is only 100 miles wide on average, and each missile travels just below the speed of sound at an altitude of only six feet. Iran has all of the high ground, and American AWACS aircraft will be unable to detect the Mirages and Migs until after they burst out of the deep mountain valleys and over the Gulf proper at sea level, travelling at 0.96 Mach. All aircraft will already be on precise track for their American targets, as tersely advised in advance by the Iranian AWACS.
You do the math. Because the Persian Gulf is relatively shallow on the western side, large ships are generally restricted to deeper water in the center, meaning that the John F. Kennedy is never more than 50 miles away from the Iranian coastline, and considerably closer when transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Let us call the range fifty miles, because it will make no difference at all to the sea-skimmers. Let us call the speed of the attack aircraft and the Exocet missiles the same, at 700 miles per hour. From the earliest point at which the attack aircraft can be spotted exiting the Iranian valleys, maximum flight time for either aircraft or missile to the John F. Kennedy is a scant 4.28 minutes.
Still time for American fighters to intercept the Iraqi attack aircraft, you think? No, not a chance, not even a slight one. Because the block 2 Exocet and C 801 both have ranges in excess of fifty miles, all attack aircraft will launch within one minute of breaking cover, then roll back for base at 0.96 Mach while still in sovereign Iranian airspace. The launched Exocets and C 801s, probably numbering between thirty and fifty in the first attack wave, will continue on track at exactly the same speed, just 6 feet above the sea, completely invisible to the radar on the AWACS aircraft and to the radars of the U.S. fleet.
The accuracy and lethality of these relatively small sea-skimming missiles should not be underestimated. On Tuesday May 4, 1982, two Argentine attack planes launched a pair of Exocets at the British Fleet from a range of approximately 30 miles, with one of them locking onto the British destroyer HMS Sheffield. Travelling just below the speed of sound at an altitude between six and eight feet, the Exocet hit Sheffield amidships just above the waterline, its 350# directed-energy warhead penetrating deep inside the electronic fire control room. HMS Sheffield caught fire and sank, with the loss of 21 lives.
Five years later on May 17, 1987, a single Iraqi Mirage locked onto the USS Stark in the Persian Gulf. Though by this time the frigate was fitted with "sophisticated anti-Exocet defenses", its radar completely failed to see the incoming Exocet, which hit the bridge structure, causing massive damage and killing 37 American sailors. In keeping with the best civilian Pentagon procedures, USS Stark's skipper, Captain Glenn Brindel, was relieved of his command, comprehensively scapegoated, and then forced to retire.
Try to remember that in each case, a single Exocet hit amidships [i.e. a direct hit], and caused awesome damage out of all proportion to the size and cost of the missile itself. Exocet is a truly terrifying weapon against which there is still no effective defense, and a minimum of 50% will strike their targets if an attack is launched on an American carrier group in the Persian Gulf. Though a handful might accidentally strike screening destroyers and frigates, a conservative estimate indicates that a minimum of ten Exocets would hit the carrier. Survival under these circumstances would be extremely difficult.